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Monday, July 14, 2014

Fueling the I-45 Rivalry (Dallas vs. Houston)

Since the 2005 NBA Playoff Matchup with Dallas vs. Houston, this rivalry between the Mavericks and the Rockets has lost its sting over time. Tracy McGrady and Dirk Nowitzki would literally go shot-for-shot, and Yao Ming dominated every center the Mavs could offer. Those games always provided great entertainment.

Now, the on-court I-45 Rivalry may have a chance to (again) live up to its potential. To be honest, Dallas can only talk about the Spurs for so long. Come on, we've been complaining about the same group of guys (Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker) for over 10+ years now. And, quite frankly, it's time to move on and bash another team in our division.

With Houston's acquisition of small forward Trevor Ariza and Dallas's pivotal pick up, Chandler Parsons, the atmosphere of this rivalry has the potential to shake up the Western Conference.

Get your popcorn ready.

What adds even more fuel to the fire is the fact that Chandler Parsons played a key role in Houston's playoff bid, but now he will join the lineup with Dirk and company to represent Big D.

I knew something was up when I heard Mavs owner Mark Cuban was showing Chandler Parsons around the city last week.

Furthermore, the Rockets' owner was reported to have texted Cuban about trading Dirk to Houston shortly afterward the Rockets picked up Dwight Howard in 2013. Hopefully, Mark Cuban did not take this as an insult. Or maybe he did.

Rivalries only thrive when the fan bases, teams, and offices have some friction on and off the court. After a decade of arguably meaningless, regular season games between the Mavs and Rockets, it looks like the two camps are bound to collide at some point very soon.

Remember how much fire and drive DeJuan Blair brought to the Mavericks in this year's playoff series against his former team (San Antonio Spurs)? Well, expect the same from Chandler Parsons and even more tension between the two as the days count down for one of the Western Conference's premier matchups.